Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra

The Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra was established in 1978 under the name the Opera Orchestra of Hradec Králové, one year later the body was renamed as the Symphonic Orchestra Hradec Králové, and in 1987 to the State Symphonic Orchestra Hradec Králové. Since the foundation of the Czech Republic (1 January 1993) it bears the name the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra, which expresses a historic continuity reaching through the Philharmonic of the Czech Sokol Organization in Hradec Králové (1921 to 1965) as far as the Philharmonic Unity, which was active in the town from 1887. The period of the biggest artistic development of the body is connected with the name of Prof. František Vajnar, who worked as a principal conductor of the body continually from 1991 to 2001, when he was appointed honorary principal conductor of the body. The current chief conductor of the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra is the composer, conductor and violinist Ondřej Kukal (since 2002), it´s principal conductor is Andreas Sebastian Weiser (since 2006). The HK Philharmonic Orchestra has performed on stages of prestigious concert halls in Europe (Grosser Musikvereinssaal in Vienna, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Queen Elizabeth Hall in Antwerp etc.), and played in Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Spain and Switzerland. The interpretation quality achieved by the body can be documented by CD recordings for both domestic and foreign companies as well as Czech Radio. The orchestra performs in important festivals (the Smetana's Litomyšl International Opera Festival), together with Czech Radio 3 - Vltava it co-organizes the unique festival Music Forum Hradec Králové (among others, Czech premieres of Berio's, Henze's, Schnittke's, Kancheli's and Gubaidulina's works).